"The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." - Plato

Saturday, March 02, 2013

They Just Don't Make Armageddons Like They Used To

Did the sun rise this morning? Whew! I had feared that Obama might cut its budget. He’ll have to do something dramatic, because he needs to spread sequestration pain as widely as possible.A lobbyist quoted in the Washington Post outlined the worst possible scenario for Obama: “The good news is, the world doesn’t end March 2. The bad news is, the world doesn’t end March 2,” said Emily Holubowich, a Democratic lobbyist. “The worst-case scenario for us is the sequester hits and nothing bad really happens. And Republicans say: See, that wasn’t so bad.” What if they gave a sequestration and nobody noticed?So Obama has a vested interest in making sure that this tiny budget reduction hurts as many people as possible. And that will be a challenge, because even after the sequester, the federal government will be spending more money this year than it did last year.Obama and his lackeys have been flooding the airways predicting the end of the world if Congress doesn’t agree to another round of tax increases. He even detailed the devastation that would be visited on the National Drug Intelligence Center, which shuttered its doors last year. He has even been fabricating the sequester’s provenance, claiming that it was Republicans who insisted upon sequestration. That’s untrue as the Washington Post’s Bob Woodward has pointed out repeatedly.Obama’s predictions of doom have grown so extravagant that even the mainstream news media have begun to express skepticism. CNN’s Candy Crowley interrupted Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood’s doomsday recitation to remind him that, even after sequestration, his Federal Aviation Administration would have more money to spend this year than last. She noted that the FAA would have half a billion more dollars to spend than it did in George Bush’s last year in office. She also pointed out that, since 2001, the FAA oversees 27% fewer commercial flights but with a budget that’s 41% larger. Good for you Candy! It’s amazing what you can accomplish with a few minutes of research.Even NBC’s David Gregory was skeptical of Obama’s doomsday scenario. Although he was typically unprepared, he did ask, “Why, instead of worrying about dire consequences, aren't you and your managers coming up with the best way to make these cuts that protect essential services?Later he asked, “Do you really think Americans think that government can't tighten up a bit, even if it's a pretty clumsy way of doing it with the sequester?”If you doubt that Obama plans to maximize the sequester’s pain, here’s a checklist of federal expenditures that should be cut even if the government were running a surplus. If they’re still around today, then you will know that he wants you to feel pain.Is the John Murtha airport still operating? The Johnstown, Pennsylvania airport was a pure pork project from the beginning. It handles three nearly empty flights per week. Nobody would notice if the federal government closed it and sold the land. Is Obama still subsidizing mohair? Mohair is the wool of a specific breed of goat typically raised by the rich as a tax dodge. ABC’s Sam Donaldson is typical of the subsidy’s beneficiaries. Is the government still funding the Popcorn Board? Yes, the federal government underwrites popcorn advertising. Does the federal government still subsidize honey? The government doesn’t actually subsidize honey. It’s sillier than that. The government subsidizes beeswax production. In World War II, the military needed beeswax to waterproof canvas. The subsidy still survives even though we have far superior water proofing technology.You could go on, and on and on discovering wasteful line items in the federal budget that the republic could easily survive without. Even the Pentagon budget is full of silly little programs that have nothing to do with defense.Instead, Obama chooses to release illegal aliens.But the dirtiest little secret is that, even after the sequester, the federal government will spend more money this year than last. When you look at a graphical representation of actual Congressional Budget Office projections of current and future spending, you can see that we have nothing to fear but Obama himself. You can see it here.

If Obama really wished to create a terrifying scenario resulting from his sequester, he could threaten to cut funding for birth control pills. If you don’t find the prospect of Sandra Fluke raising children terrifying, then nothing can scare you.

About Me

I was born in Tombstone, Arizona, but moved to California in 1959 when labor strikes at the copper mines devastated the Arizona economy. I've been moving north ever since. Pullman is as far north as I care to live and I'm looking toward reversing the drift.